At least one person was killed at a white supremacist "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia when a car plowed into a group of counter-protesters.

The rally was held in protest of local authorities' plans to remove the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a city park.

500 white supremacists were met by Black Lives Matter counter-protesters at the rally, which turned violent when fistfights broke out and the sides threw objects - including plastic bottles and gas bombs - at each other.

During the protest, a car rammed into a group of at least ten counter-protesters. Six people were injured, and one is in critical condition.

As a result, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency.

Local police dispersed the rioters.

"The imminent threat of civil disturbance, unrest, potential injury to persons, and destruction of public and personal property" are enough to warrant "coordinated local government action," Charlottesville leaders said.

"We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for," US President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter. "There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Let's come together as one!"

"[I] am in Bedminster for meetings & press conference on V.A. & all that we have done, and are doing, to make it better-but Charlottesville sad!"

In May, Charlottesville's Jewish mayor received anti-Semitic messages over the initiative to pull down the statue.